Parents Pay For Crimes Essay, Research Paper

Gene Baratta

Sue Plachta

Comp 111

Jan 30, 00

Where Will I End Up?

Where will I end up? That was the question that ran through my head as a high school student athlete at least a hundred times a day. I knew and was told that I had the natural talent and the work ethic to get to the college level, to play football. It all started my freshmen year, my first year organized football at my high school Grosse Pointe North. Where I was just messing around one day before practice kicking the football around. The kicking coach had taken notice and told me that I had the natural talent and leg strength to become a solid and well-developed place kicker. I had then earned the starting job by my first ever career football game, and have made a great career out of it so far, and hope to keep it going.

I never thought that I would become a kicker I thought that was the pretty boy position on the football team, little did I know that was my ticket to a college football career. I had an average freshmen season, but what do you expect from a freshmen kicker? Most teams at the freshmen level don?t even have a guy that can kick at all. I thought that I was the ?man.? By the time that my sophomore football season rolled around I was a much-improved kicker, I worked out mostly everyday all summer long with my cousin who was a pro recruit at the time, he was the one who really taught me what you really needed to know about kicking. All summer we worked on my technique and accuracy.

The first week of my sophomore football season the coaches took immediate notice to my improvement, I was then offered the opportunity to try out for the varsity by the head coach. I was very excited but also nervous at the same time, this was like a dream come true. My high school has a very rich tradition for football, and for a sophomore to play at the varsity level is rare. So the following week I worked out with the varsity and made the team. I was pumped I was looked at differently by everyone some in a good way but also a lot in a bad way, the bad way was that a lot of my friends were jealous of the opportunity that I had and this brought me down a little. I had a good sophomore year on varsity I started all year long and was all league and all Macomb Area Conference kicker of the year, which is very hard to do as a sophomore.

As a junior in high school, I started receiving many letters from different colleges all over the state from division one down to division three. As my junior season started to come to an end I started getting at least two phone calls a night, from different colleges. Everything was going great; the communication was very good with many schools. This is when I really started thinking about and wondering were I was going to end up. I was being recruited by many big time schools my dream was always to play at Michigan State and it was looking great they were hot on my trail. I took my official visit up to Michigan State and loved it; I also visited Iowa State, Illinois, Western Michigan and Central Michigan. I was thinking about only division one schools at this time, which was not in the best interest of me. This all took place during my junior year, I had a lot of decisions to make I could honestly say that this was a very stressful time for me I missed a lot of school for visits and meetings with coaches. In the summer going into my senior year I took my A.C.T. and only received a 15 on it, in order to play at the division one level you need to have an 18 on it. I was very scared that I would not get it, and I had every right to Michigan State asked me to commit to them early and I was unable to do so because of my low score. They started to back off, I was their first choice and they wanted an early commitment and I could not give it to them, eventually they were no longer interested. This made me very upset that I was no longer an interest at my first choice.

My senior season was here I was pre season kicker, and also in magazines as pre season kicker of the state. I tried not to let anything go to my head; I stayed focus and did my job. I started my season off great in the first two games of the season I kicked two last second field goals to win the games this caught the eyes of many schools. In the middle of my senior I took the A.C.T. again this time I received a 16 not good enough to go anywhere. At this point I started showing interest in division two schools just in case I did not get an 18, at the division two level you do not need an 18. You?re A.C.T. score can vary on your high school grade point average. So I started visiting division two schools and I loved Saginaw Valley State, my parents were also very happy with the school. I am happy that I choose this school, it is not too big and it is what I was looking for.

In conclusion to my paper I did end up getting an 18 but not until the end of my senior year, which was to late to go division one. I think that this all worked out for a reason, I am happy were I am and I am in a great position with my football situation and also academics. I also have realized that if you want something bad enough you can achieve it, I did not get to the college football level by sitting around, I worked my but off, and the rest took care of it?s self.